Kindzmarauli
KakhetiRegistered March 30, 2006
Kvareli district, on the southern slope of the Caucasus: the left bank of the Alazani — Gagmamkhari, literally "the other bank". Vineyards lie at 250–550 m on the alluvial fans of the Duruji, Bursa, Chelta and neighbouring streams, about 2,400 hectares in all. The dark slate the Duruji carries down heats up more by day than the surrounding soils. The wine is red naturally semi-sweet, from Saperavi alone.
Authenticity
Elevated authenticity risk
Kindzmarauli is a naturally semi-sweet red PDO from the Kvareli micro-zone in Kakheti, made exclusively from Saperavi, with sweetness achieved by arrested fermentation rather than added sugar. It is one of Georgia's best-known names and its demarcated zone is limited (open estimates put the registered zone in the low-to-mid hundreds of hectares), so demand can exceed authentic zone output and the name is sometimes stretched to Saperavi grown outside the zone. What to check: confirm the wine is Saperavi from the registered Kindzmarauli zone in Kvareli and that the producer sources grapes there.
